At first, I froze, terror locking my muscles as my heart pounded in my throat. My mind was on a never-ending loop of Oh my God, I'm back here, I'm back here while it was reaching in a desperate attempt to achieve contact with Loki. My eyes adjusted to the light quickly, and my vision was getting clearer while the headache receded, which meant my concussion was healing.

Then one of the angels who had opened the door reached for me, and I snapped.

I embraced the anger, because it was a lot better than having a panic attack, grabbed the fucker's wrist, spun into him, and elbowed him in the solar plexus following that up immediately with an upper cut to his chin. Then I yanked him in front of me so he would be stabbed by the sword his companion was lounging with.

I had enough presence of mind to say a silent thank you to T'Challa, Thor, Steve, Bucky, Loki, and all the angels who had drilled me relentlessly.

I shoved the stabbed angel into his companion, grabbed the point of the sword sticking out the front of his body, and ignoring the slices in my hands yanked it straight through. His companion was so shocked that he hadn't kept a good grip on the pommel. I thrilled at his surprise. Wasn't expecting that, were you, asshole?

The first angel now had a gaping hole in his chest that went all the way through his body, and he collapsed in a large puddle of blood and viscera. The iron rich stench became thousands of times worse. I flipped the sword around so my healing hands now had a grip on the pommel. Now I was armed, and I was pissed.

The angelfire dripped from my arms onto the collapsed angel and began to burn him. I didn't know when the flames decided to make an appearance, but I didn't question it. Instead, I concentrated and sent a line of flame along the blade I held, and swung it at the other angel.

I slashed a deep line across his torso, and he went down, the fire consuming him. I didn't stop to make sure they were done. I ran out of the cell.

As I studied my surroundings to determine which way to run, I heard shouts come from one direction and the pounding of feet along with the susurration of feathered wings. Too many feet and wings.

There was no way I would be able to fight them all. I had only managed the two back in the cell because I took them by surprise. They had expected me to be frozen by PTSD and terror. The angels of the Silver City had a telepathic link to one another, a link which I was included in. There was no reason to assume these fallen angels didn't have something similar.

I couldn't chance taking these angels by surprise. I had to run. So, I booked it in the other direction.

The place was just like the last time. Corridors made of stone with stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. The stone walls glittered with some sort of mineral similar to quartz. It was a maze that went on and on, but I couldn't count on losing the angels who probably knew this place like the backs of their hands. I needed to hide.

It was after I had rounded a corner, looking for a crevice, anything I could duck into, that I felt something grab me and yank me through the wall of the path. Stone moved to block the hole I was just pulled through, and I heard the pounding running footsteps of angels racing by right afterwards.

I shook the hand that had grabbed my arm off, grabbed the person's throat, and slammed them into the wall. I held up my sword threateningly, point towards the individual's neck, the angelfire still licking along the blade.

In the light of the flames, I saw the stranger's face stare back at me.

It was Loki's face.

Stunned, I stumbled back and starred at him. He did it, he found me!

Only...something was off, very off.

The person who wore Loki's face dusted himself with a huff and glared at me. "You're welcome."

He didn't recognize me. And I was noticing other things that I hadn't noticed upon my initial reaction. His Asgardian armor was wrong, differently styled. His hair was different too. My Loki's hair was sleek with a few curls and landed just under his shoulders. This Loki's hair was shorter, just ending at his collarbone, and was styled in a way that reminded me of a Christmas tree. His eyes...not only was there no recognition when he looked at me, but they were colder. And the rage and bitterness I picked up from him was enough to almost bowl me over.

His scent was off too. Oh, he still smelled like Loki...leather, ice, and a touch of peppermint, but it was different in a way I couldn't explain. And despite him being right in front of me, I couldn't feel him through our bond, though I could sense him empathetically.

"What are you staring at, mortal?" He sneered.

It was understandable why he would mistake me for a mortal. I was still dressed in the jeans and the T-shirt bearing a picture of Fluttershy with the caption "Yay!" below her. Morgan Stark had sent it to me by way of her father, who was starting to grudgingly accept that his girl had a pen pal he wasn't always crazy about but would chop her own arms off before she hurt a kid.

But the fact that he didn't know my name...that clinched it.

This wasn't my Loki.

I knew about the multiverse and alternative timelines and dimensions. Hell, I was from an alternate dimension, one that was destroyed by the Beyonder. I was the sole survivor of that universe, only alive because I had been imprisoned here at the time, and then after Raphael found and turned me, I escaped to the dimension I lived in now. Free will meant that we all made choices which could determine different paths for us all, and that frequently led to the creations of different timelines, different realities.

I wasn't completely sure what timeline this Loki was from, but I could hazard a guess, because of what else I was picking up from him. "I'm not a mortal, Loki. You can drop the act; I know most of it was the Mind Stone influencing you. It's not around anymore, but you still haven't shaken most of it off."

Loki's eyes flashed with rage and he approached me with menace written all over his face. "How do you know my name?! And...who are you?!"

"I'm someone who knows where you just came from, or should I say when. You just got through trashing New York and the Avengers stopped you. Before that, I know you were imprisoned and tortured by Thanos."

My Loki still had nightmares about his time in Thanos's clutches, and I occasionally had to use our bond to pull him out of them and comfort him. If my Loki still struggled with PTSD from that year in his personal Hell...yep, there it was. A flash of remembered terror and pain from this Loki.

His hands balled up into fists, but he eyed my still fiery sword and thought better of whatever it was he had been thinking of doing. He was angry though, angry and ashamed. He was bewildered that I, a total stranger, knew these things about him, and now he was reassessing me, realizing that I was more than he thought I was at first.

"Did the Tesseract send you here?"

"That's none— how do you know that?"

So, this Loki, rather than travel to the future to save his future self from being murdered by Thanos, had been tossed here by the Tesseract. I wouldn't wish this place on my worst enemy, let alone a variant of my husband. "Please tell me you still have it."

The look on his face said it. He had lost the Tesseract along the way. It was then that I noticed how banged up he was. I knew that this was shortly after the battle of New York and when Hulk beat the snot out of him, but there were more bruises and cuts that said he had endured more beatings after that. Assholes. I didn't care that this wasn't my husband...I was going to make those angels pay for what they did to this Loki.

Loki was thinking. I could almost hear the wheels turn in his head. "You said 'when'."

"Hmm?"

"'When'. You said 'when'. Does that mean I am from a different time?" Loki arched a brow as he studied me. "Are you from the future? Is that how you know me?"

I rubbed my forehead. "Yes, I'm from a future from your point of view."

I started to lower my hand but he grabbed it. I started to struggle but I noticed what he was looking at.

My wedding ring was a yellow gold band with a Viking ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail, in the center of the ring of gold. Within the circle were two gemstones shaped like hearts...one emerald, one ruby.

Then he looked at what I was wearing around my neck. It was a necklet that matched the ring exactly, a necklace that served as my public, everyday collar.

I heard his heart pound and he inhaled sharply. He stared at me again. "Who are you?"

"The less you know, the better," I replied.

His hold on my wrist tightened. "Not good enough mor—whatever you are. Who are you? What are you to me? In the future?" His voice was almost pleading. "I know this jewelry you wear! I have had this exact design in mind for centuries, in the event that I ever met..."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't. I knew this wasn't my Loki, but he looked, sounded, smelled like him, and the feelings of want coming off him...

He let me go and took a step back. "That's how you know so much about me," he said softly. I felt more bewilderment and a renewed interest now. He was wondering what was wrong with me, that I could possibly love him enough to marry him. So much shame. So much self-loathing. It was almost more than I could bear. I had to remind myself, again, that this wasn't my Loki. It was so hard not to reach out to him.

Worse, the angelfire wanted to leap to him, heal him. I could feel it, like a dog straining at the leash. It didn't matter that this wasn't my Loki. It wanted to help.

But this Loki wasn't ready for either of those things. I could sense it. If I touched him, he would explode with fury. This Loki had to work through his issues on his own, at his own pace, just as mine did.

And I didn't have the right to comfort this Loki. Not yet, not ever. Another me, maybe, or (and I felt nauseous as I thought it) someone else.

It took a lot of effort but I choked the flame back. I couldn't extinguish it completely. I didn't have that much control over it, but it was reduced to being a ball of fire in my hand.

Loki saw it and licked his lips. "What are you?" he asked me again. "You're not human. So, what..."

"I'm an angel."

A look of disgust and rage crossed his face. "Like those out there?" He jerked his head towards where he had pulled me out of the corridor.

I shook my head. "Not really. Those are fallen angels. I'm allied with the ones in the Silver City."

"The what?"

"Never mind. You already know way too much." I glanced around the tunnel we were in. "What is this?"

"I stumbled upon them while fleeing those bastard birds. They appear to be unaware of them."

I blinked. "I find that hard to believe...then again, I didn't really have a chance to look around the last time I was here..."

"You've been here before?"

"I was a prisoner here. It's a very long story."

He smirked. "And now you're back. Hmm, I guess I—I mean, he didn't do a very good job of protecting you, did he?"

"Fuck off," I growled. I wasn't going to let anyone insult my husband, not even another version of him.

He scoffed. "But he is your soulmate, right? He should be coming along to rescue you at any moment." My expression must have been bland because Loki arched a brow. "He does know where you are?"

"I'm hoping he'll figure it out."

Loki reached out with his hand and tapped my temple with a finger. I smacked his hand away. "Stop that," I snapped.

"You don't have a bond with him? I know I wou—never mind." He shook his head and rolled his shoulder as though to shake something off.

"That's none of your business." Not yet, anyway. "No, we need to assume we're on our own."

"'We'?"

"Yes, we. You haven't done a good job of getting out of here on your own, have you?" I pointed out to him. I was tired of standing here talking to him. It was accomplishing nothing, so I started to walk down the tunnel, wanting to see where it went.

Loki followed. "You may as well save your effort. I have searched everywhere for a way out of this accursed place."

"There's a way out. I just have to remember how to get to it." I furrowed my brow in concentration and then shook my head because it was starting to hurt. "I wasn't in the best of shape at the time. My mind was still mush from my transformation."

"Transformation?"

"I wasn't always an angel."

Loki let out a short bark of laughter. "So, I was right to call you mortal after all. You used to be one." His eyes traveled up and down my body, taking in my clothes. "Still possess the mannerisms of one. How could you possibly be my soulmate? I must have grown soft in the future. Well, I will have to make sure that doesn't happen."

I rolled my eyes. He caught my expression because he asked. "You are soulmates, are you not?"

" He thinks we are," I answered without thinking.

I picked up more interest from Loki. "You do not?"

It was a sore subject for me, and I didn't answer. I just kept moving on.

I didn't believe in soulmates. Believing that two souls were always destined to be together would require believing in predetermination and fate. I couldn't believe in those things, because that would mean that everything that had happened to me...my abduction, my imprisonment and torture, the death of my universe, the loss of my family and all my loved ones...had been planned. I couldn't accept that, couldn't believe it, because then I would have to be extremely angry at whoever or whatever had laid that path out for me.

I had to believe that they were just a series of freak events that just happened. I couldn't believe that I was fated to lose my loved ones, lose everything, to become what I was now.

So, my Loki and I agreed to disagree on that issue...and I let him be the hopeless romantic for the both of us.

I felt a sense of fascination radiate from the Loki who was with me now. I turned to find him staring at me in disbelief. "What?" I asked.

"You don't believe...yet you are still..." Loki was at a loss. He still couldn't understand how I could possibly have chosen him. He swallowed. "Do you...do you know Thor?"

"He's embraced his role as my brother-in-law with a lot of enthusiasm." I turned and started walking again, the light from my angelfire illuminating the quartz in the stone walls.

Loki trailed after me. "But...you don't find him..."

I laughed. "Not in the least."

He froze again but I kept walking. "You and he have never..."

"No, we never got together. Neither one of us is attracted to the other, and we never have been. Now, can you drop all this already so we can focus on getting out of here?" I knew why Loki was asking these questions though. The vast majority of his lovers before me had either been Thor's leavings or had used Loki in order to get close to Thor since they wanted to get close to the crown. From what my husband told me, there might have been one or two who liked him for himself, but those relationships still hadn't lasted very long. So, I understood why Loki felt the need to question me regarding anything to do with Thor, though it made it no less annoying. "We need to find either one of those portals that I tripped into, or we can find the Tesseract and somehow use it to leave this place."

Loki's questions did accomplish something though. They distracted me from my ever-growing sense of panic. A large part of me wanted to curl into a ball and rock on the floor of these tunnels, hiding out forever until someone came along to find me. There were too many bad feelings and memories associated with this place.

But another large piece of me was angry. Angry that I was brought back here. Angry that these monsters did this to me again. I focused on my anger, latched onto it.

Even though he wasn't my husband, Loki's presence did serve to remind me: I was far from helpless now. I was an angel. I was an Asgardian Princess. I was an Avenger.

I was not going to be easy prey this time.

Loki snorted. "Good luck with the Tesseract. Those creatures have it, and there are far too many of them for you and I to fight. We need one of those portals you 'tripped' into. Unless you can do more than wield a sword and create fire?"

I paused. I hadn't thought of that. Taking the sword I still held, I tossed it a couple of feet away. Still holding my ball of angelfire in one hand, I reached out with my free hand and concentrated on calling the blade. It didn't budge. "Damn it. This place is interfering with my magic."

Loki nodded. "I have found that to be the case as well."

So, neither of us had magic. The odds were really not in our favor.

Loki bent down to pick up the sword. I let him have it. We might as well both be armed. "If you have no magic," Loki said, looking at my ball of angelfire, "Then how..."

"It's not magic. It's a part of what I am."

He studied the ball of blue flame. "I have not seen any of the angels here create that."

I shrugged. "I think you need to be a non-fallen angel in order to make it." He was a little too fascinated by the blue fire that was starting to edge into white, so I walked on before he could reach for it. I didn't know what would happen to this Loki if my angelfire touched him, and I wasn't eager to find out. I wasn't going to take the chance that it would make him horny like it did my Loki.

He might be Loki, but he wasn't my husband, and I was a faithful wife. I would not cheat on him, not even with another him.

And my head was starting to hurt from thinking about it all. It was doing wonders for my already shaky state of mind. The entire time I was talking to Loki my mind was spinning like hamsters doing double time on a squeaky wheel. I was fighting off a major emotional meltdown. I was breathing hard and I was sweating bullets, my pulse rate was way too high, and I was so nauseous that I was surprised I hadn't vomited twice already.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I answered Loki. It was sweet for him to be concerned, but we didn't have time for that mess. We had to get out of here. I needed to get out of here before I blacked out. I could feel it coming.

We trekked on for another few minutes. The tunnel was very narrow, just barely wide enough for us to squeeze through. The claustrophobic feel was not helping my mental state at all.

Then I felt it.

Terror. Agony. A feeling of utter helplessness. More pain.

My senses being on high alert as they were, I was easily able to hear the screaming.

Someone was being tortured.

I ran.